As part of our week-long tribute to Shirley Bassey, Dave Owens spoke to young Welsh singer Kizzy Meriel Crawford who was inspired to follow in the Tiger Bay Dame’s footsteps

Kizzy Meriel Crawford is pretty unique, as she herself concedes. “There aren’t many mixed-race Welsh-speaking singers out there,” jokes the prodigious 17-year-old, recently signed to Charlotte Church’s music publishing group See Monkey Songs.

Born in Oxford, her mother is English, her father from Barbados. When she was two her parents divorced and the family relocated to Aberaeron to be nearer her maternal grandparents, who were living in the Ceredigion harbour town.

She attended a Welsh medium primary school and was raised in a bilingual environment, becoming fluent in Welsh as a result.

Raised on her parents’ folk, soul and reggae albums – “It all adds to the style that I describe as folk fusion” – she was surrounded by and immersed in music.

“My grandad played in a skiffle band, so I think that’s where I get the genes from,” she says, before reeling off an impressive list of diverse artistes. “I grew up listening to jazz, folk, reggae and soul – people like Nick Drake, Kate Bush, Tracy Chapman, Joan Armatrading, The Carpenters, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Roy Ayres, and Luther Vandross.”

Her head may have been turned musically, but the soon-to-be aspiring singer didn’t have an easy time of it when she entered the education system. She stood out in an area which was populated by predominantly white faces.

“When I was in primary school I used to get teased a lot and be on the end of mildly racist comments from kids in the school. They thought because I was brown I wasn’t Welsh. I used to get stuff like “you’ve been dipped in chocolate” and other comments I wouldn’t like to repeat, but I don’t know if they were being deliberately cruel. I think it was just their way of dealing with a brown face.”

One unfortunate incident sticks vividly in her mind.

“I remember before I started school my mum approached the headmistress to ask what their policy on racism was. She replied ‘We don’t have racism in this school because there’s hardly black people in the area. We’ve got one little mixed-race boy and we call him our little chocolate drop’.

“That was when I was five, so I would hope those attitudes have changed now.”

Singer Kizzy Meriel Crawford

She also encountered confusion as a mixed-race Welsh speaker.

“When I speak English I’ve got an English accent because of who I live with. My mum still has an English accent, but I’ve got one brother and two sisters and they’re all Welsh speakers. I guess it surprises people.”

Although she admits that this situation works both ways.

“Recently I went on a radio show to speak about racism and I met an Indian guy – we both approached each other and spoke English naturally, because we didn’t expect the other to speak Welsh, although we both did. So there’s prejudice – unconscious or otherwise everywhere.”

When Crawford reached secondary school she was still subjected to the occasional bullying but the shy youngster had created her own in-built defence mechanism. Music was her escape. Having played violin from the age of seven, she first picked up a guitar when she was 11.

“I always wanted to experiment with a guitar and finally got a cheap one from Argos. I began to teach myself to play it and I really got into it. I used to go on YouTube and watch other people playing.”

This was also when the first seeds of her writing in Welsh were sown.

“What started me off was hearing (Welsh singer) Gwyneth Glynn. My mum had an album of Welsh folk music and as soon as I heard it I thought ‘Wow, I want to start singing in Welsh’, so I started writing songs in Welsh.

“I wrote my very first song and played it to my mum. She asked what cover it was and I said ‘no, it’s my own song.’ From then on I started writing more music and it got noticed.”

Several notable wins include the 2012 Merthyr & RCT Singer-Songwriter competition, which resulted in prize money to record with Geri Halliwel and Ed Sheeran.

Collaborator Amy Wadge heightened her profile, and when Crawford won the Brwydr Y Bandiau at the National Eisteddfod 2013, securing her a coveted slot on Maes B and £1,000 prize money, the youngster’s career quickly escalated.

An appearance on the bill at this summer’s Ponty’s Big Weekend at Pontypridd’s Ynysangharad Park, in front of a crowd of more than 20,000, underlined her growing reputation.

“That was one of the biggest crowds I’d ever played to. It was nerve-wracking, but it went really well,” she recalls. “I’ve pretty much got used to performing everywhere now. When I come on stage I go completely into the zone.”

The future looks nothing short of iridescent for the singer. Her debut EP is out next month and she’s constantly gigging.

She also has an experienced hand guiding her in the form of Aimee Jade Hayes, one third of the team that own See Monkey Songs – alongside Charlotte Church and Rhiannon Morgan Bell.

“Obviously it’s amazing to be signed to See Monkey Songs. Through that I’ve got to meet loads of other musicians to work with. I’ve met some amazing people. I’ve worked with so many musicians in the studio and started developing my own producing skills.

“It has just opened a lot more doors for me. Through music I’ve become a lot more confident and it’s allowed me to open up more. “

Fiercely proud of her Barbadian roots, she is also clear in her desire to bang the drum for Wales and the Welsh language. as in her mind she has much to thank the country she was raised in.

“I want to become an ambassador for Wales through my music and my multicultural heritage. I also want to bring the Welsh sound to people who have never heard the language before. I’m so passionate about it, and it’s really important to me, because I feel I owe everything to here. because Wales has made me what I am today. If I had never moved to Wales this wouldn’t have happened.”

The Carmarthen-born songstress releases her critically-acclaimed third album Mug Museum on November November 11 through Cardiff’s Turnstile Records. Her beguiling brand of psych-folk looks set to take her to even greater stages.

Georgia Ruth

Winner of this year’s Welsh Music Prize for her stunning album Week Of Pines, the folk singer and harpist wowed the crowds at WOMEX with several astonishing performances that brought her to the attention of no less than Robert Plant.

Maddie Jones

Back in May Maddie walked off with the title of winner of The Big Gig at the Moon Club in Cardiff, a competition organised by Cardiff Council and Nation Radio to find the stars of tomorrow. Her new EP Mr Walrus exhibited her exquisite gypsy-roots songs.

Dionne Bennett

The frontwoman with soul-pop exponents The Earth and cinematic collective Slowly Rolling Camera, the former backing singer with Rhys Ifan’s loose-limbed outfit The Peth, is finally receiving the recognition her lung-busting voice deserves.

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The Performance was the album that was a leap of faith for Dame Shirley Bassey – a collection of songs that would allow her to connect with a new generation of musicians and fans. Producer David Arnold revisits the story of the making of the album with David Owens

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